COLNE Valley MP Jason McCartney welcomed new statistics that show a record number of people in Colne Valley started apprenticeships in 2011-12.

The study also showed provisional results for the number of apprenticeship starts in the first quarter of 2012-13 – 360 people started apprenticeships in three months from August to October 2012.

In the last financial year, 1,220 people started an apprenticeship in Colne Valley – an increase of 74% compared with the last year of the Labour Government.

Mr McCartney said: “We will only succeed as a country when everyone is given the chance to reach their full potential. We have dramatically increased the number of apprenticeships on offer compared to the last Labour Government.

“These record levels of apprenticeships are fantastic news for our country, Colne Valley, and most of all for the people whose lives are being transformed by the opportunities they offer.”